China’s Mars rover takes first drive on surface of the red planet

Zhurong, China’s first Mars rover, has left its landing capsule and is now exploring the red planet’s surface.

A remote-controlled Chinese motorised rover drove down the ramp of its landing capsule on Saturday and onto the surface of Mars, making China the first nation to orbit, land and deploy a land vehicle on its inaugural mission to the Red Planet. Zhurong, named after a mythical Chinese god of fire, drove down to the surface of Mars at 10:40am Beijing time (02:40 GMT), according to the rover’s official Chinese social media account. China this month joined the United States as the only nations to deploy land vehicles on Mars. The former Soviet Union landed a craft in 1971, but it lost communication seconds later.